Smith led a mutiny of about 50 Americans who refused to fly “coronavirus class” with “hazmat astronauts” on the government’s converted cargo plane over concerns of sharing a long flight with potentially infected passengers.

Japan did not impose another quarantine upon about 800 Japanese nationals and an estimated 100 foreigners who chose to stay in Japan. Critics say the authorities moved the viral “petri-dish” from the ship into the general public.

Health minister Katsunobu Kato said this week that at least 45 of the 800 released Japanese passengers have reported fevers after disembarking, and at least 23 others were not properly tested. Officials of foreign governments also reported that at least 42 Americans, seven Hongkongers, seven Australians, four Britons and one Israeli have tested positive after they were repatriated.

Fears in Japan that limited virus testing is masking true scale of cases

Smith said hotel staff gave him and his wife masks and have been leaving food outside their door. Smith has tweeted photos of Tokyo Tower and a dining tour of Japanese, Italian, Vietnamese and other restaurants.

During his period of quarantine on the Diamond Princess, he also shared images of the food served on board.

Smith, who says he reports his temperature daily to the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), defended himself on Thursday night, saying: “I’m not infected. What are you spreading?”

“Ignorance must really suck. We are not under quarantine,” he also said.

The lawyer said he and his wife did not leave their luxury suite and balcony on the Diamond Princess for two weeks, and that they felt healthy from the delicious food and Tokyo Bay air. Finding a disembarkation permit in his door, he declared: “Tokyo, here we come!” Many joined him.

Carlos Soto Pineda, a lecturer at Hong Kong University, took his wife and son to a hotel in Tokyo’s bustling Shinjuku ward. His wife Yardley Wong, who gained global media attention and more than 4,000 Twitter followers during her ordeal in a tiny windowless cabin, posted photos of pedestrians, a shop and a restaurant where she had noodles and beer. While some on Twitter accused her of threatening public health, she said she was following instructions from the Japanese government and Princess Cruises.

Hong Kong quarantine is ‘heaven’ compared with ‘luxury hell’ of cruise

The next day, Pineda shared a picture of a new disembarkation order given to another round of departing passengers, telling them to “stay home unless absolutely necessary”. Wong’s photos showed her following those orders and isolating inside their hotel. Since they no longer had a room on the ship, they spent another night in Tokyo waiting for the release of their parents, aunt and uncle. The family of seven then boarded the government’s second charter flight to Hong Kong. At least four passengers on that flight later tested positive in Hong Kong.

Wong, who had earlier hoped to be quarantined at their Kowloon town house, said her family was healthy and resting in the government’s quarantine buildings in Fo Tan, which were better than their expectations.

The Hong Kong government repatriated 218 Hongkongers on three charter flights, and 25 others took commercial flights from Tokyo back to the city. It was not clear if flight crew or passengers knew they were sitting among survivors of the contaminated cruise ship.

Smith said it should not matter, because freed passengers had been tested more than almost anyone else.

Smith said he planned to spend at least another week in Japan, since the US Centre for Disease Control had barred him from entering the country until at least March 4.

Asked if he would go on another cruise, he said: “Yes. What are the odds of us encountering anything close to this again?”